Chapter 492 - 297: The Nanli Dynasty’s War of Annihilation

In a city on the border of the Nanli Dynasty.

"Sect Master, there’s still no response from the reinforcements of the Four Great Sacred Lands."

A sect disciple stepped forward to report.

A few more wrinkles appeared on the already pale face of the elderly Sect Master. He sighed and said, "It seems the Nanli Dynasty’s odds are grim this time."

The so-called Four Great Sacred Lands were the four strongest Immortal Sects within the Nanli Dynasty, cultivating an endless stream of Qi Cultivators. Regardless of their status in the Central Plains World, here in the Nanli Dynasty, they were akin to the Holy Land Gated Communities of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands.

"Brother Yang, what’s there to fear from these beasts? If it comes to it, we’ll take them down with us."

A man in a cyan Confucian robe took a step forward.

"Brother Chen, there is something you don’t know. This time, the Demon Race has dispatched an army of a million to attack the Celestial Treasure Continent. They are advancing on three routes, and the experts in each are not to be underestimated. There are dozens of Demon Monarchs on the offensive, and even multiple Throne Great Demons are accompanying them!"

The elderly Sect Master said helplessly.

Only the Four Great Sacred Lands of Dongzhou can handle Throne Great Demons.

Every one of these Thrones possesses the strength of the Upper Three Grades.

As for them, they were merely targets to be swept aside.

"Bamboo can be burned, but its integrity cannot be broken! The teachings our ancestors left us are not just empty words!"

The man in the Confucian robe stood ramrod straight, his Vast Righteous Qi so dense it was almost tangible.

"That may be so, but the gap in our strength is far too great. After all, that’s the might of their entire world. How can our Nanli Dynasty possibly resist it alone?"

The elderly Sect Master couldn’t help but give a bitter smile. He knew how stubborn the other man was and quickly added, "There’s no harm in being cautious in all things."

BANG!!

THUD!!

The man in the Confucian robe was about to say something more when a tremendous roar echoed from outside the city.

"This is bad!"

The elderly Sect Master’s expression changed. He hurriedly cast a gilded script, stepping on the golden characters to fly high into the air, transforming into a streak of light.

In an instant, he reached the city gates.

A ten-foot-long crack appeared before everyone’s eyes.

"The array has been breached! They must have an Array Celestial Master with them! Brother Chen, Brother Bai, the two of you go and repair the array. The rest of you, follow me! We’ll hold them back!"

The elderly Sect Master issued his commands rationally.

"Right!"

The crowd answered in unison.

The man in the Confucian robe took out a sheet of Three-point Inscription Paper and began rewriting the array’s inscriptions with his Dragon Beard Brush.

Just then, a terrifying aura descended upon the city.

With a deafening RUMBLE, the array was smashed to pieces.

Something tried to force its way in through the shattered opening.

The gaze of the man in the Confucian robe sharpened. He transformed his brush into a blade and drew a circle in the air.

He intended to seal the opening.

"A fine display of settling the universe with a single stroke."

A male from the Demon Race, clad in cyan scale armor and standing over two meters tall with the tail of a flood dragon, appeared in mid-air.

His cheeks were covered in the cyan scales of a flood dragon, and his massive, powerful muscles were as black as ink.

His pupils were a dark cyan, as venomous as a viper’s.

His eyes blazed with a fervent battle lust.

"Hmph!"

The man in the Confucian robe broke through the demon’s oppressive aura and sent the attack flying back, but the demon simply flicked his hand and effortlessly dispelled it.

"The grand army of the Demon Race has arrived. Don’t even think about running."

At the same time, another male from the Demon Race with a hawkish nose emerged from the smoke and dust. A pair of enormous black Kunpeng wings was on his back, and sharp claws protruded from his fingertips.

"The Green-eyed Flood Dragon Lord from the Flood Dragon Race... and Prince Kunpeng from the Kunpeng Race."

The expression on the face of the man in the Confucian robe was incredibly grave.

These two were peak experts among the younger generation of the Demon Race, their strength terrifyingly immense.

A Nascent Soul Great Cultivator or a Vajra Martial Artist from the Human Race probably wouldn’t last a single breath against either of them!

"Hmph! You naive, pedantic insects. Your Four Great Sacred Lands of Nanli can’t even fend for themselves right now. What makes you think they’d come to save you?"

"As for that cowardly lot from the Song Dynasty, don’t even get me started. They’re all a bunch of incompetents."

The Green-eyed Flood Dragon Lord sneered.

"Exactly. The Human Race has existed for a thousand years, and this is what it has become? Truly disappointing!"

Prince Kunpeng was also full of disdain. What he craved most was an evenly matched opponent.

But so far, no one had been able to withstand a single one of their attacks.

"That’s only because the nations of the Central Plains World are mired in internal strife and can’t afford to intervene! If all the prodigies of the Human Race were gathered, there’d be no room for you to run rampant!"

The man in the Confucian robe declared loudly.

"Ant! Still talking so much!"

A flash of anger crossed Prince Kunpeng’s face as he blurred into an afterimage and vanished on the spot.

A sharp claw jutted out from the chest of the man in the Confucian robe.

"The Human Race... must win!"

Blood streamed from the corner of the man’s mouth, and a heroic, defiant light flashed in his eyes.

"With my body as the brush, and the heavens and earth as my book... I die with no regrets..."

Prince Kunpeng pulled his hand out, licked the blood from it, and said grimly,

"A scholar’s blood... is bitter."

The Green-eyed Flood Dragon Lord watched this scene without a change in expression, as if it were a common sight. He sent a quiet telepathic message to those behind him:

"Take this city."

He raised a massive hand and transformed into a hundred-meter-long, coiling, green-eyed flood dragon.

"ROAR!"

The flood dragon churned the heavens, and in the next second, dark clouds gathered and a gale began to blow.

A bolt of lightning descended, and a flash of white light enveloped the entire Grand Array. With a deafening boom, the array shattered.

BWOOOOM!!

The drawn-out call of a horn echoed.

A dense horde of Demon Race soldiers poured in from the borders of Dongzhou.

As far as the eye could see, the entire border was a swarming black mass, stretching from one end of the mountain range to the other.

Minotaur-like soldiers riding massive, three-meter-tall desert scorpions brandished their greatswords, wantonly cutting down the defending cultivators in the city.

There were also snake-bodied warriors slithering swiftly across the sand, wielding spears and shields, and giant, red-eyed rhinos rampaging and crashing through the crowds.

Prince Kunpeng hovered in the air, his wings beating steadily, and sneered,

"The so-called Human Race is nothing special after all."

Seeing the city’s defenses broken, the Green-eyed Flood Dragon Lord reverted to his human form and said flatly, "We must capture all the strategic points before the main human army can return. Then, the situation will be more advantageous for the Demon Race, and our losses will be minimized."

"The heavens are aiding the Demon Race. This is an opportunity that comes once in a century."

"We only need to wait for the Throne to arrive, and we can conquer the Nanli Dynasty."

...

「Meanwhile.」

The vast Great Yan Army marched toward Jiayu Pass.

After bidding farewell to Luo Qiufu, Lu Mingyuan had set out on his return journey.

He planned to instruct the Defender at Jiayu Pass about coordinating a military deployment with the Golden Crow Country.

The Demon Race army could not be allowed to approach the borders of Great Yan.

The defensive line of the Northern Great Wall was extremely long; a single country could not possibly withstand every attack.

Lu Mingyuan didn’t want to help the Nanli Dynasty, but he couldn’t just let the Desolate Demons seize the Celestial Mandate of the Central Plains.

’Let the Demon Race seize the Celestial Destiny and Fortune? That’s unacceptable.’

On the journey back, Lu Mingyuan sat inside the Nine Dragon Imperial Carriage.

Unlike when he had first arrived with Luo Qiufu by his side, now it was Yun Qinghe who sat beside him.

"Where did you get your information?"

Lu Mingyuan was quite curious about the source of her intelligence.

After all, it had arrived faster than reports from the Great Yan front lines, which meant there had to be a special internal channel within the Taoist Sect.

Yun Qinghe, who had been resting with her eyes closed, slowly opened them upon hearing Lu Mingyuan’s question. She said softly, "Do you remember what I told you once?"

"In the Western Wilderness Poison Barrier Mountains, there is a Daoist who slays demons to protect the Dao, one who has vowed to exterminate every last demon in the world."

"I remember. Wasn’t that person Xu Changqing?"

Yun Qinghe shook her head. "No. When has Xu Changqing ever been to the Western Wilderness? This person is a young prodigy, a Daoist and Martial Dual Cultivator named Lin Yan."

"Daoist and Martial Dual Cultivation?"

Lu Mingyuan muttered to himself.

He had been on the path of cultivation for so long.

He had seen prodigies of Confucian and Daoist Dual Cultivation, such as Second Prince Lu Guangjing.

He had also seen those of Buddhist and Daoist Dual Cultivation, like Fairy Ci Hang, Sui Yuqing.

And there were even Confucian and Martial dual cultivators. Within the Academy, some scholars were skilled in both literature and combat.

But this was the first time he had ever heard of someone actually reaching an extremely high realm in Daoist and Martial Dual Cultivation.

"He comes from a noble lineage, a descendant of a Sword Immortal, just like me. But his family was impoverished. His mother was killed by the Demon Race when he was young. Because his aptitude wasn’t good enough, he was sent to temper himself in the Northwest Army, where he grew up with his father. Through years of fighting the Demon Race, he absorbed many of their bloodlines, received an Opportunity, and awakened a new constitution. Only then did he enter the ranks of Qi Cultivators."

Yun Qinghe seemed to know his life story very well, giving a rough summary.

’A descendant of a Sword Immortal from the Middle Ages,’ he thought. ’That includes her, too.’

Lu Mingyuan had never heard Yun Qinghe talk about herself before.

Her background had always been a mystery.

"I was born in a small town within a Grotto Heaven. There were many children my age, and I had both a father and a mother," Yun Qinghe recounted calmly.

"My grandfather was a Sword Immortal from the Middle Ages who achieved Ascension to the Upper Realm."

"So, for the past thousand years, our family has been one of the most prominent Swordsmanship Families. But as you know, war broke out between the Central Plains and the Wilderness. My parents both died in a world-shaking battle, and I was left stranded in the Mortal World as an orphan. Eventually, a senior from the Celestial Master’s Mansion took me in as a disciple."

It was a truly tragic story, yet Yun Qinghe spoke of it in an incredibly matter-of-fact tone.

But Lu Mingyuan knew the story behind it all could not be explained in just a few words.

"This Lin Yan is a friend I made in the Northwest during my time as a wanderer."

"He’s located in the barren mountains deep within the territory of the Desolate Demons, where he has carved out his own domain. It was he who risked his life to bring back this intelligence."

"So that’s how it is."

Hearing this, Lu Mingyuan finally understood.

...